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Ohio State University is notifying 760,000 students, professors and others that hackers might
have accessed their personal information.

In late October, officials discovered that unauthorized individuals logged into an Ohio State
server with the names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses of current and former
students, faculty, staff, as well as consultants and contractors who do business with the
school.

Ohio State officials said they haven't heard of any identity thefts related to the incident.
They did, however, say experts found evidence that the hackers were trying to launch cyber
attacks.

The school also is offering 12 months of free credit-protection.

"We are committed to maintaining the privacy of sensitive information and continually work to
enhance our systems and practices to reduce the likelihood of such events occurring," Provost
Joseph A. Alutto said.

He said Ohio State is working with a nationally-recognized data security firm to strengthen its
systems against further attacks. OSU officials expect to spend as much as $4 million to pay for the
forensic investigation and credit-protection services for the individuals whose personal
information was hacked.

"We regret that this has occurred and are exercising an abundance of caution in choosing to
notify those affected," he said.

In the past three years, Ohio State has investigated an average of 10 potential data breaches
annually.

If you were affected by this most recent breach, you can get more information about the
credit-protection offer at
www.osu.edu/creditsafety.